Confrontations and Confessions
by haunted-eternity
Summary: She wishes she wasn't so in love with him anymore. But that's not up to her. Fate, after all, is a fickle, fickle bitch.


I don't know where this came from. Actually I do. I was reading a novella for my american literature seminar class and had some Donna/Harvey feels. So, I said why not share them with the legions! I am sorry in advance. okay. story time!

* * *

Jessica knew Donna knew she was there. The executive assistant seemed to know everything and had eyes and ears in every corner. However, the younger woman seemed content to let Jessica linger in the doorway. Obviously she didn't see her as a threat, which was always a good thing, Jessica suspected. Unfortunately for both of them, they couldn't do their usual banter. This time, Jessica was here for a reason.

"Donna does Harvey have any appointments this afternoon?" Jessica asked as she leaned against the door jamb.

Donna turned from placing files in Harvey's inbox and an eyebrow rose slightly.

"None that I scheduled. He's out negotiating a deal with his client and then he has a basketball game tonight," Donna told her.

Jessica nodded with a slight frown that caught Donna's eye.

"What?" Donna asked with a slight tilt of her head. Her hand went to her hip and she leaned against the side of Harvey's desk. She had picked up on the mannerisms Jessica thought she hid so well. She should have excepted it, though. After all, she easily reads and understands the man whose desk she leans against. Jessica didn't know whether to be thankful or scared. She just hoped she had an answer for whatever came next.

"There's a woman down at security looking for Harvey. The security guard is worried she's going to make a scene soon so he called me because he's scared of you," Jessica told her. A small smile appeared at the corner of both women's lips at the last comment. But the smile retreated off Donna's face before it could fully bloom.

Before Jessica could say anything further, Donna turned and sat at Harvey's chair. She was powering up his laptop and typing in his password before Jessica strode further into the office.

"Should I?" Jessica trailed off.

"It's better if you don't," Donna finished her thought for her. "But you can not listen and stay here."

Jessica turned at Harvey's record collection and smiled as she heard Donna charming the men with the video feed. A few flirty innuendos and a promise she was only doing it in everyone's best interest got her the footage she needed. And when Donna cleared her throat, Jessica was behind her, leaning an arm against the back of Harvey's chair.

She watched Donna lean in and watch the video and she noticed the moment she recognised the face.

"Oh, shit," Donna whispered.

"What?" Jessica wondered. Obviously she was missing a key piece that Donna had. She wanted in.

"Yesterday was his birthday," Donna whispered. Jessica didn't know whether it was aimed at her or whoever was on the video feed.

"I know, he makes me ignore it every year until he wants something," Jessica nodded. "And he makes sure your dinner is not interrupted by warning me in advance."

"Usually she just sends cards and I toss it," Donna continued. At Jessica's look of confusion she elaborated. "He's made me do it for as long as I've worked for him. I don't question it. She must have run out of money or his brother stopped enabling her."

"Donna what the hell is going on?" Jessica asked.

"It's his mom," Donna said.

"Oh, shit," Jessica parroted donnas earlier sentiment. "Are you sure?"

Donna gave her a pointed look and Jessica backed off Harvey's chair and held up a hand.

"She's not going to leave until she gets what she wants," Donna said as she leaned back and turned the chair to face the older woman.

"What are we going to do?" Jessica said quietly.

"You do nothing," Donna said.

Jessica's look of astonishment would have amused Donna if it wasn't a serious situation they were discussing.

"I know what she's after," Donna said quietly.

"Harvey," Jessica said.

"Yes and no," Donna said as she gave Jessica a look to drop the subject. She wasn't going to say anymore so any prodding attempts would be useless.

"What are you going to do?" Jessica asked.

"I need somewhere to talk but no one can listen and look in," Donna said.

"The roof," they both said at the same time.

"Bundle up. It's cold out there," Jessica said. "I'll have security escort her up."

Donna watched Jessica leave and leaned her head against the back of Harvey's chair. He'd hate her for doing this. If he had his way, she would never meet his mother. Unfortunately, this was not a perfect world or one Harvey could manipulate. As she pulled her coat over her shoulders and wrapped the scarf she had stolen from Harvey around her neck, she wondered when they would catch a break. They had been doing so well, too.

Jessica met her at the roof access door. A swipe of a card turned the light from red to green and the older woman caught the door as it opened.

"I know you probably don't need it but good luck," Jessica said.

"Don't tell Harvey," Donna told her.

"If he comes back," Jessica trailed off.

"I'm telling him she's been here but I don't want it to happen at the office," Donna told her.

Jessica nodded and wordlessly agreed.

The roof was the safest place Donna could think of having this conversation. Sure, she could have it in a file room or one of those conference rooms designed with soundproof walls for the disputing couples over in the marriage and family counselling wing to not interrupt the rest of the office but Donna didn't want that. She wanted the woman nervous and off her game. The roof was the the only place that could happen. As she tied the coat's wrap around her waist tighter and fixed her scarf, she gave one last look to Jessica before heading up the stairs that led to the roof.

"I'll send her up," Jessica nodded.

Donna gave a brief nod before shutting the door.

* * *

She leaned over the roof edge and watched the street below the offices. She had never been afraid of heights. The heights gave her a thrill she couldn't get when she was on the ground. It was different than looking out Harvey's office window or his condo. Her condo didn't really have much of a view or height. Harvey had told her she stayed for the view. She didn't deny it but they both knew the reason she stays with him goes much deeper than the simple reason of liking the views he afforded her.

She turned as the door opened to the roof. Giving the woman a once over she could see Harvey didn't seem to get many of his looks from his mother. His brother, however, did get most of his looks from the woman. She was smaller than Donna thought she would be. With both her children above six feet, she expected a woman at least as tall as her. Instead she got a rather average looking woman with hazel-green eyes, a shoddy highlighting job that looked weeks old, and clothes that seemed to be one size too small. Sex appeal, Donna noted. She could understand that, she supposed. It was sometimes why she wore the low cut tops and dresses. Recently she had made an effort to cut back on those occasions. She had been spending too much time with Harvey outside work. She didn't need any appealing or alluring tops and dresses. He liked her just fine in anything she wore, especially if he had come and helped her. It may seem strange to others to have a boss, especially one that's a male, shop with his assistant. But they were friends before any professional relationship. He liked her to look as good as he did. He liked to indulge her feminine tendencies to shop for the best.

Donna was intimidating. Her naturally taller than average stature already put her above the woman in question. Her heels only added to the fact. It didn't slip past the conscious part of Donna's mind that her entire outfit was given to her by the man she was about to protect and defend. The woman in front of her was the same in all the pictures she had ever seen. Granted the woman had more gray hairs and wrinkles than previous pictures had shown but Donna saw the resemblance.

"Who are you?" Harvey's mother asked.

"Donna," was all Donna supplied.

"I was told my son was out here to meet me," Harvey's mother said.

"They told you someone was out here. They never said Harvey," Donna shook her head. "Harvey doesn't even know you're here."

"Where is he? You're keeping this from him, aren't you?" the woman asked.

"He's doing his job," Donna said. "We don't have secrets from each other. He'll know you were here soon enough."

She tried not to become hostile towards the woman but flashes of Harvey's hurt expressions through the years came to mind. What Jessica told her about the mock trial confessions flashed briefly in her mind. She hated this woman and couldn't play nice.

"I want to see my son," she told Donna.

"He doesn't want to see you. He's not even in the building," Donna told the older woman.

"Which is it?" She asked.

"Both," Donna said. "We can continue to play charades or you can tell me what you really want and leave."

"You'd give me what I want?" the woman asked.

"Depending on the price," Donna said.

"I want my son back in my life," his mother said.

"Anything but that," Donna said quickly.

"It's all I've ever wanted," Harvey mother told her.

"Bullshit," Donna shook her head.

"I've missed him," the woman said quietly.

Donna gave a hollow laugh and ran her fingers through her hair.

"Which is why you visited before this. You're here every birthday, Christmas, Thanksgiving, Easter. Oh, wait. You're never here," Donna shook her head.

"I tried after his father died," the woman said.

"You weren't even there when he died," Donna exclaimed.

"And you were?" she asked.

"Of course I was. I wasn't going to abandon him. He's already had that done to him enough times in his life," Donna told her with a pointed look.

"I just want to talk to my boy," the woman pleaded.

"You think I'm going to waste 13 years of progress? I can't do that to him, I won't let you see him," Donna shook her head.

"You've only ever heard one side of the story," his mother told her.

Donna gave a hollow laugh again and and rubbed at her temples before shaking her head.

"Every holiday we were with Gordon, he would talk about you when Harvey was asleep. The hopeless romantic was still in love with you even after what you did to your family. He would talk to me because I reserved judgment unlike his son who didn't want your name muttered anywhere near him. I've heard two sides: the man who loved you with all his heart and the boy who was old enough to understand what was going on in the house. I think after six years of stories about you from both Harvey and Gordon, I reserve the right to make my own judgment about you," Donna told her.

"You haven't heard my story," the woman countered.

"Haven't I?" Donna asked. "Is this the part where you tell me you weren't happy with the marriage and needed an outlet? You had enough of playing family. You'd always be tied to the fame and fortune of Gordon Specter but when he stopped playing you stopped loving him? You didn't realise that when he got a family that would come first and his music came second? It's the same story all cheating spouses have. I work in a law firm with divorce and counselling down the hallway. I don't need your story or your platitudes or an apology for your past, I've heard it all before."

"You think I should tell him though," the woman noted.

"It's in the past for him. He doesn't talk about it. He doesn't need your apology because he's forgotten about you. In his mind you're just the woman who gave birth to him. That woman you passed, the one that gave you access to the roof? She's been more of a mother figure than you. She's taken that potential you left and harnessed it into the success Harvey is today. Unfortunately, his heart is another matter. He may think you no longer exist but there's always going to a part of him that still wants to see his mother and ask why. And I can't let you try to break what I've been fixing for years."

"His brother said he was asking where I was at the funeral," his mother said. "I didn't think he'd want to see me yet."

"You never intended to show. And then you decided to wait six years," Donna practically yelled against the wind that picked up as they continued to talk. As it died down she adjusted the hair out of her face and she sighed. "I don't know how it was when you left him but when Gordon died his world fell apart. He got a promotion the same day his father died. And you were nowhere to be found. Harvey figured maybe he'd finally get a chance to see you without you showing up and asking for money. Luckily his hopes weren't too high at that point in time."

Donna licked her lips, her mouth growing dry from use as she swallowed. She still remembers that day like it was yesterday. That day she had to break the news to Harvey and then when they took a weekend for the funeral and handling what was left in Gordon's place.

His brother moped around from room to room, back outside, and finally to the closest bar. She only knew he went to the bar because she had to pick him up every night or when they closed at 2am. Harvey had told her to leave him there or let him walk home. She was always half tempted to follow his ideas but his brother was just as lost as he was. Harvey had stayed inside his childhood room with a baseball clutched in his hands, staring into the ceiling. She made him eat what she prepared and drank whatever was in the cups she provided. And still the most heartbreaking of all was when he finally released his all the built up pain and sadness at the loss of his father as she curled up next to him on the bed the night before the funeral and entwined her fingers with his. They had fallen into a fitful sleep; Harvey plagued by dreams and Donna waking at every little sound. She didn't pick his brother up that night, opting to stay with Harvey. She wasn't sure she could get up anyway. He had curled up next to her and pillowed his head on her shoulder. The only way he stayed asleep was when she ran her fingers through his hair. A soothing motion she had figured out early on thanks to her nieces and nephews.

He rarely left her side the next day. Always within reach of her, his fingers finding hers when they stood next to each other. When left alone he'd pull her in towards him and they'd stand in a hug for minutes. Despite his sadness he knew she was hurting, too. Donna was the daughter Gordon never had. Though, she'd always be introduced to his friends and the town as his daughter in law. He promised her it'd happen one day. They didn't talk about those days anymore. Still too painful and too much of their relationship defined in that weekend to ever talk about it again. Although, his brother never lets them forget about the funeral. He likes to bring up when she held his hand and rested her head on his shoulder as he sat in the church and stood stoically at the grave in front of his father's friends. The rest is never mentioned, ever.

"Success comes with a price. He just survived a civil war in the legal world for this firm and now you show your face after decades of no contact," Donna says as she willed herself back to the present. "I can't have him go back to that kind of thinking. Success doesn't always have to come with a price."

"What is my son to you?" Harvey's mother asks. She noticed the woman in front of her was silent a little longer than strictly necessary to let her words sink in.

It's a serious question with a complicated and layered answer. Perhaps too many layers to define into a single category. They're friends and coworkers but more than that. Deep underneath, buried by the line of professionalism they are hopeless and awkwardly in love with one another. He's never spoken of that night until he got her back after he realised the memo was fake. He's never repeated what she had said that night. She's never reminded him of the funeral. But those two events were not for anyone's consumption but their own.

"He's my best friend. We look out for one another," Donna says simply.

"But you love him. Does he love you?" Harvey's mother concluded.

"I don't think I should divulge that to you. But thanks to you, he never let's anyone get close," Donna said as she skirted the question. "He thinks if you let someone in, if he starts caring about anyone, they'll walk all over him."

"I'm sorry," the woman said.

"Bullshit," Donna said. She pointed her finger at the woman, stepping closer and using her height as an intimidation factor. "You love this. You love the fact you broke him so he can be just as miserable as you. Fortunately, he doesn't accept that fact and lets one person in."

Donna watched the smirk appear and then disappear at the very corner of Harvey's mother's lips. She licked her own lips and smiled. It was the smile she got when she found a connection in a case Harvey missed. She didn't miss the shudder that also ran through the woman as she stepped even closer.

"Are you afraid?" Donna asked. She watched the woman carefully for any sign of a yes or no. "Do I strike you as a harmless woman?"

She watched Harvey's mom open her mouth to say something and held up her hand to silence the woman.

"You don't work in the law world. So, I'll let you in on a little secret. When Harvey asks for something from anywhere in New York City, he gets what he wants. It's not just because he's the best god damn closer this city's ever seen. It's because there is a network of this city I can command with a simple phone call. There's nothing I wouldn't do for him. He doesn't even need to ask anymore. I just have to look at him and the world is at his fingertips, waiting to be used. Which is why I'm the one dealing with you."

She took breath before continuing her final say in the matter.

"I don't want you anywhere near this city again. Don't call, don't write, don't ask for money, don't look him up in the white pages. Don't ask his brother how he's doing. As far as you're concerned, Harvey doesn't want any contact with you. You walked out of his life first, so stay out," Donna finished.

Before Harvey's mother could obey or object, the door to the roof opened. Donna closed her eyes and cursed under her breath. She was so close to getting the woman out of his life. Now it was all going to back track. She bit her lip and placed a hand against the roof edge for extra support. If only she had more time, she thought as her ears started to ring and drown out whatever came next.

* * *

"Where's Donna?" Harvey asked as he noticed Jessica at his desk. In his chair. Donna never allowed anyone but herself in that chair. Something was obviously up. And it was not just by the look Jessica was giving his computer screen. He'd have to ask her later where she had come across his password. Once again, Donna was the only other person to have that information.

"You're supposed to be in a meeting for another hour," Jessica said as she looked away from the screen to her watch and then back at the screen.

"What the hell is so interesting on my screen?" he asked. He set his briefcase down on the table and moved to his desk.

Jessica bit her lip and got up to silence him before he could start.

"Were you going to tell me?" he asked as he looked at her. He ignored her hand that signalled for him to shut up.

"This is Donna's show. I didn't even know who she was," Jessica said.

"That's because Donna knows to stay the hell away from her. What is she doing?" Harvey asked.

"She wasn't going to leave until she saw you. I don't know what Donna's plan was. She just told security to bring her up to the roof,"

"Dammit, Donna," he muttered under his breath. "Give me your badge."

Jessica handed over the badge for the roof access. She knew he had one but hers was right there and she was one hundred percent sure his was in Donna's drawers. Too far away from his already racing mind.

Before she could get another word out he was out the door and she followed close behind. She waved off any attempts of anyone following them as she shot a look at Harvey and Donna's puppy as he moved to follow his boss.

She caught the door at the last moment and cursed the stairs as she watched Harvey open the door and take in the scene. As soon as he watched Donna sway slightly and put a hand out for the ledge, he was gone from her side and running towards the woman.

"Donna," a voice said. Her mind cleared from the hazy fog she put herself into and she was starting to focus. Her name was repeated, once and twice more. She lifted her head and the figure was hazy, blurry, fuzzy. Like a night of drinking that went wrong. She wanted to shake her head and clear the fog but it would make it worse.

"Donna," the voice said again. A hand touched her face and she leaned into it, him. The hand was familiar. Senses were coming back to her and she could recognise his hands, the smell of paper and mahogany. It was Harvey. No, she thought, he couldn't be here. His mom was here. She'd ruin the progress.

"No," she whispered. Perhaps she yelled. She didn't really know. She could still hear the ringing in her ears.

She was moved. Although it was disorienting, she now faced another direction and instead of the building giving her support and stability it was Harvey. His arm was wrapped around her waist and she was firmly tucked into him. It would have been nice if he wasn't leaving her, she thought. Her arms moved under his suit jacket and she held herself to him. As she started to clear the fog from her mind, focusing on him and only him, she heard his voice again.

"Leave," he said over her shoulder. "Leave and don't come back."

Her fingers wrinkled his shirt as she slumped against him in relief. A quiet half-sob was muffled in the crook of his neck. She did it. They did it. She closed her eyes as the relief washed over her. A moment later, one of his hands carded through her hair, the other tightened at her waist.

Jessica watched as Harvey watched his mother walk away while holding Donna at the edge of the roofline. When his mother passed her to head for the stairs, Harvey caught her eye. They silently had a conversation with their eyes. Jessica asking if Donna was okay, Harvey telling her she would be eventually. With a nod, Jessica followed in the footsteps of Harvey's mother and left the two on the roof. She didn't want to look back. She couldn't look back. If she looked back, she'd see too much despair. No one needed that right now.

* * *

The office was quiet, lights dimmed, the constant buzz of the tightly controlled air conditioning low in their ears. Her favourite record from his father played quietly in the background. Donna stood behind him at his record collection, taking dust jackets off the shelf and replacing them after browsing the title. A tumbler of scotch sat untouched beside his feet, propped up on his glass coffee table. His tie was askew, suit jacket long forgotten, his own glass dwindling on the low side as he carefully balanced it between his fingers on the arm of his couch.

He watched her in the reflection of the glass windows, the slight tilting upwards of her lips, her fingers carefully dancing along the sides of his collection. His record collection was as precious to her as it was to him.

"After everything I've done, after everything I've made you do, why do you keep coming back to me and defending me?" he asked.

She moved from behind him and made for the arm of the couch. She took his glass and set it on the table. His practically empty next to her full one. His arm brushed along her thigh as she half leaned against the leather. She gripped his chin in her fingers, making him look at her as she spoke. Her fingers lightly brushed the five o'clock shadow creeping slowly onto his tanned and otherwise smooth skin as she removed them.

"I learned a long time ago when you find something worth fighting for you never give up," Donna told him.

Their eyes meet for a time strictly longer than necessary. He broke contact first, her fingers played at the hem of her dress as she leaned back against the couch's arm.

"You should have, a long time ago," he said quietly. She should have left him when they left the DA's office. She was destined for greatness but lived in his shadow instead.

"After all you've done for me I sometimes ask myself if its fair to you. If its fair to have you so involved in this," he said as he brought his hand up and gestured to them and the the room they sat in. "You haven't had anytime to do anything else but live in the background and in my shadow."

The alcohol made him lippy and chatty, it always had. She didn't need much for revelations when it concerned him. She's never lied to him, not really. Not about the important things. Except for that one time. She never lied to him about the other time either. She grabbed her drink from the table. She was going to need it.

"Sometimes I think about it. Wondered why I stayed. What would have happened if I gave up and went away. But after a moment, I think it'd be awful to live a different life. All that's happened to us -the good days and the bad days- and then I remember the funeral," she mused.

She had stayed with him for thirteen years. Through the good days and bad -more often bad days as of this year- and she still gave him the same smile in the morning. The simple exchanges between them mattered more to either of them than the elephant that was always in the room when they were alone and forced to confront their situation.

"Are you afraid?" he asked.

"Of what?" she wondered as she finally took the first sip of the scotch. It went down smooth and she watched him closely as he looked up at her.

The question was in his eyes. The one they skirted around at dinner parties, galas, and office functions. He never asked it out loud always silently, with a look and a tilt of his head. She swallowed the lump in her throat with another sip of scotch. This time it burned just like his stare.

"You remember that one time you browsed my bookshelf?" Donna asked. She was stalling for time, they both knew it. However, Harvey seemed to indulge her with a nod of his head.

"You picked one out one time. It was stuck between two anthologies of literature. You made joke about how flimsy it was compared to the books it was smashed between," she remembered.

"And you told me to read it. It was fucked up like that Hemingway book you made me read," Harvey told her.

"Some days we're those two characters," she said. "And some days we're not."

His arm came up and around her, his other placing her glass on the table. Before she knew it -she should have seen it coming- he pulled her down onto the couch. He had shifted so she wasn't completely on top of him, because that would be too intimate. But her legs were on top of his, his hand that removed the glass was at her knee, a finger tracing them hem of her dress. She should have been put off, should have told him off. She only wrapped an arm around the back of him, resting it on his shoulders to lean against him.

They were a cliche: his head fitting perfectly in the crook between her shoulder and her chin. She smelled like paper and a hint of dark mahogany. The same scent she had smelled like for the last dozen years. He hated and loved their conundrum at the same time. It was time he finally did something about it. Something he hadn't done yesterday, something he needed to do today. He needed them to be on the same page.

She closed her eyes and felt his lips take hers. It was simple but far from chaste as his thumb trailed down her cheek and he pressed a known pressure point on the back of her neck with one of his fingers as he tilted her head for better access. He demanded nothing more and nothing less. Keeping his lips there and present as she kissed him back.

"Some days it feels like we're destined to become them," she told him.

His mind half remembered she was still talking about the characters from that book. Novella, she would correct him.

"You know how I feel about you. We're one step ahead of them. Last time I checked, you weren't dying or keeping a secret from me that would change my fate," Harvey said as he leaned against the back of the couch.

"No," she said. Her unconscious mind screamed at her that she was lying to him. She did have a secret, she just didn't know it. "We know each other too well to ever have secrets from one another."

"Fate can be changed," he told her. His hand skirted higher than her knee and she closed her eyes.

"It can't happen a third time," she whispered.

"Third times the charm," he told her.

"Harvey, this isn't one of your god damn movies. This is us; this is our real lives. It's not a fairytale," Donna said.

"We're finally on the same page," he told her.

"Are we though?" she asked.

"You still love me," Harvey said.

"That was never the problem," she told him.

"I can change," Harvey said.

"Can you?" Donna asked skeptically.

"For you," Harvey nodded.

"It can't be for me, Harvey. It has to be for you," Donna said.

He had tried for her once. She wished he hadn't. The ring still sat in her jewellery box. Sometimes she'd take it out and admire it. She never put it on though. That'd hurt too much. It would remind her too much of what it meant. She wished Gordon had kept the damn letter to himself. She wished he hadn't been so in love with the idea of being a romantic. He told her the Specter family ring was meant for her finger. Made her try it on and everything one Christmas when they were there with Harvey watching the entire exchange. She dammed everything when it fit her finger perfectly. He had faith his son would be ready one day. She had kissed his cheek and shared a laugh. She had watched as Harvey looked at her with an unfamiliar gaze that night.

"Everything I set out for has been given to me. Except for the one thing I didn't think I deserved," Harvey said quietly.

"I told you I'd wait," Donna said. "Feelings just don't go away."

"You did it despite claiming we could never go back," Harvey said. "Why?"

"Because I knew you'd get there one day," she told him. She cupped his cheek and rubbed her thumb over his stubble. "Maybe that's the secret I've held onto."

"Intertwined fates sound cliche," Harvey said. "Like something my dad would say."

She smiled softly but said nothing. There was really nothing else to say. She made to move off his lap and closed her eyes as his fingers brushed against her skin. Through her dress his touched burned a trail of desire. But she couldn't act on it. Not yet. Not now. They were too vulnerable tonight.

"Goodnight, Harvey," she said softly. She made for the door before he could stop her and change her mind.

"Donna," he said. He waited for her to turn around and waited for their eyes to meet.

"I do, you know," he said quietly. His voice lowered even more as he continued. "I do love you."

"I know," she smiled sadly. "But you love your job more. It's okay, I'm used to it."

"I don't want to be Marcher and you're not May," he told her as he grabbed for her. She stepped out of reach.

"Then stop acting like I know a big secret that I keep from you. Just... just live, Harvey," Donna told him.

"Are you the spectacular fate?" Harvey asked. "The escape. Donna, you're not a damn escape. I need you."

"And that's what makes this whole thing so tragic," she told him. She swallowed the lump in her throat and turned once more to the door. She gathered her coat and bag from her desk, feeling eyes on her form the entire time. Her heels were stifled on the carpeted floor as she walked away and didn't looked back. She didn't want to see the look on his face. It would be too much. She's saved him enough already today. She doesn't know how much more saving he needs but she's too weak to not crumple and fall into his arms again. It would hurt too much this time around. So she doesn't look down the hallway and doesn't look up when she hears his footsteps heading towards her. She just presses the elevators door close button a little more forcefully and bites her lip to muffle the sob that threatens to pass her lips. She wishes she wasn't so in love with him anymore. But that's not up to her. Fate, after all, is a fickle, fickle bitch.

* * *

props to anyone who knows the _once_ reference and the novella.


End file.
